1st promo poster for june 10th show
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Art Date One: Bee Farm, American Canyon.
The idea for this art date came out of a painting demo Robbyn gave to her Intermedia class. She was showing how to use bees wax with acrylic paint. I had used wax before along with bleach, vinegar, and material to achieve a sepia looking woodcut image, but had never mixed it with paint.
In order to begin I needed to find bees wax. I searched all over the area where I live and found nothing listed in the phone book or even on Google. A friend suggested that I look at the online version of the yellow pages, and I finally got an answer. It was one of the few remaining family owned and operated bee farms left in the area.
Most of American Canyon has been torn down for new housing and super Wal-Mart’s. This farm is barely one quarter of a mile from the front of Wal-Mart. Even being that close and situated right along Highway 29 it is a remarkably quiet and peaceful place.
It was late afternoon when I arrived, the end of a warm and sunny day with a light breeze. From the driveway it was hard to tell which building was the one I needed. There were at least 3 small buildings, long barns, a few sheds, and a house. I picked the building in front of me, only because it had one of those flag type signs flapping in the breeze that said “open”.
Turns out it was the main factory building. There appeared to be no one around except a little man in the corner sitting on a tall stool surrounded by boxes filled with glass bottles. He was filling the bottles with honey from what looked like the largest coffee urn that I have ever seen. He sat there the entire time I was there filling those bottles. I found out later that the farm makes its money by providing honey to specialty shops around the bay area.
I was unable to speak with him because my Spanish is bad, as was his English. I soon gave up and went outside to find someone else. While looking around I was able to find someone to help me. It seems that I was the only person that had ever shown up to buy wax, so it took some time for the transaction to be completed.
I was the lucky one because I was able to wander around and enjoy the area. The farm was overrun with various kinds of lavender, rosemary, roses, and butterfly bushes. Next to the parking lot was the largest eucalyptus tree I have ever seen. I was able to sit and watch the bees flying from flower to flower, with butterflies everywhere.
When the man finally returned with the wax, I remarked that he was blessed to work there. I was very surprised by his nonchalance attitude about his surroundings. Perhaps if you worked in an area like that some people would get jaded, but I told him I would trade jobs with him in a second. A nano second!
In order to begin I needed to find bees wax. I searched all over the area where I live and found nothing listed in the phone book or even on Google. A friend suggested that I look at the online version of the yellow pages, and I finally got an answer. It was one of the few remaining family owned and operated bee farms left in the area.
Most of American Canyon has been torn down for new housing and super Wal-Mart’s. This farm is barely one quarter of a mile from the front of Wal-Mart. Even being that close and situated right along Highway 29 it is a remarkably quiet and peaceful place.
It was late afternoon when I arrived, the end of a warm and sunny day with a light breeze. From the driveway it was hard to tell which building was the one I needed. There were at least 3 small buildings, long barns, a few sheds, and a house. I picked the building in front of me, only because it had one of those flag type signs flapping in the breeze that said “open”.
Turns out it was the main factory building. There appeared to be no one around except a little man in the corner sitting on a tall stool surrounded by boxes filled with glass bottles. He was filling the bottles with honey from what looked like the largest coffee urn that I have ever seen. He sat there the entire time I was there filling those bottles. I found out later that the farm makes its money by providing honey to specialty shops around the bay area.
I was unable to speak with him because my Spanish is bad, as was his English. I soon gave up and went outside to find someone else. While looking around I was able to find someone to help me. It seems that I was the only person that had ever shown up to buy wax, so it took some time for the transaction to be completed.
I was the lucky one because I was able to wander around and enjoy the area. The farm was overrun with various kinds of lavender, rosemary, roses, and butterfly bushes. Next to the parking lot was the largest eucalyptus tree I have ever seen. I was able to sit and watch the bees flying from flower to flower, with butterflies everywhere.
When the man finally returned with the wax, I remarked that he was blessed to work there. I was very surprised by his nonchalance attitude about his surroundings. Perhaps if you worked in an area like that some people would get jaded, but I told him I would trade jobs with him in a second. A nano second!
Art Date Two: Fire access road, Solano Community College.
For my second art date I wanted to find a place that was relaxing, calming, and was beautiful enough to inspire. I was lucky enough to have stumbled upon it while working.
Part of my job is supervising trash pickup crews one day a week at SCC. The “consumers” and I were looking for a messy spot when I spotted this road, I randomly followed it for awhile but it seemed never to end. I think that the college uses it for an access road as well as a jogging/running path.
The road winds around the back side of the campus, but is so far away from the main school buildings that no noise penetrates. Since I was not alone I was unable to wander, but soon returned by myself. I still have not found the end of the road though.
The road has various stages to it. There is a small bamboo forest, a creek with a wooden bridge that rattles and sways when you drive over, and tall leafy trees that talk when the wind blows through (and at SCC the wind is always blowing through). In one section the trees hang over the car so it would appear you were driving into a tree tunnel.
I drove for a while, and then got out to walk and take pictures. I wanted to collect images not just to show you where I have been, but to add to a small image bank I use for digital work. I had an amazing time and was both inspired and relaxed on the ride home.
Part of my job is supervising trash pickup crews one day a week at SCC. The “consumers” and I were looking for a messy spot when I spotted this road, I randomly followed it for awhile but it seemed never to end. I think that the college uses it for an access road as well as a jogging/running path.
The road winds around the back side of the campus, but is so far away from the main school buildings that no noise penetrates. Since I was not alone I was unable to wander, but soon returned by myself. I still have not found the end of the road though.
The road has various stages to it. There is a small bamboo forest, a creek with a wooden bridge that rattles and sways when you drive over, and tall leafy trees that talk when the wind blows through (and at SCC the wind is always blowing through). In one section the trees hang over the car so it would appear you were driving into a tree tunnel.
I drove for a while, and then got out to walk and take pictures. I wanted to collect images not just to show you where I have been, but to add to a small image bank I use for digital work. I had an amazing time and was both inspired and relaxed on the ride home.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Antino Guadi
Last quarter I missed a fieldtrip and needed to make up some work for credit. I found a review for this DVD and asked Robbyn if it was ok to review it instead. This occurred at the time I was finishing up my tree stump/bear den. Karen
Antino Guadi
The dvd was amazing…
when I was first in one of Mike Grady’s classes, he talking about his artistic ancestors…I had no idea what he was talking about at the time until he explained that as he had studied he had found artist that were very similar in style to him, or he was similar to them, and that it happens to all artists and we adopt them as ancestors…I really didn’t think of any at the time but now…
I shall have to add Mr. Gaudi
I really liked most of his stuff, but some more so than others. The really simple work that he did with just white, like a residence he had done for an order of nuns, where he had just worked with the space and columns. And ceilings in some residences and stairways in town, where the ceilings were just white, but the surface was broken by what looked like a large palette knife that had scraped designs, like spirals and the like into it to show depth. Also the metal and wood work used for stairways, gates, railings, and balconies.
The best was how he was able to add texture to his work by his use of building materials. His use of brick, glass, tile, and even cement, to bring a look of the natural to something that was clearly not naturally occurring. The way he raised and lowered the roofline (in the first church he built) to match the tree line of the area. The use of columns as trees is probably the most amazing.
It would have been interesting to have seen the last church finished. But what he had done was remarkable. They said that he died by being run over by a train in front of the church, and at the time people just thought that it was just a little old man in ratty cloths. He seems to have live a life that for his art and his god, and not at all for himself. It seems that he took no credit for his work in life. He certainly left a great deal behind to speak for his love.
Remarkable work
Antino Guadi
The dvd was amazing…
when I was first in one of Mike Grady’s classes, he talking about his artistic ancestors…I had no idea what he was talking about at the time until he explained that as he had studied he had found artist that were very similar in style to him, or he was similar to them, and that it happens to all artists and we adopt them as ancestors…I really didn’t think of any at the time but now…
I shall have to add Mr. Gaudi
I really liked most of his stuff, but some more so than others. The really simple work that he did with just white, like a residence he had done for an order of nuns, where he had just worked with the space and columns. And ceilings in some residences and stairways in town, where the ceilings were just white, but the surface was broken by what looked like a large palette knife that had scraped designs, like spirals and the like into it to show depth. Also the metal and wood work used for stairways, gates, railings, and balconies.
The best was how he was able to add texture to his work by his use of building materials. His use of brick, glass, tile, and even cement, to bring a look of the natural to something that was clearly not naturally occurring. The way he raised and lowered the roofline (in the first church he built) to match the tree line of the area. The use of columns as trees is probably the most amazing.
It would have been interesting to have seen the last church finished. But what he had done was remarkable. They said that he died by being run over by a train in front of the church, and at the time people just thought that it was just a little old man in ratty cloths. He seems to have live a life that for his art and his god, and not at all for himself. It seems that he took no credit for his work in life. He certainly left a great deal behind to speak for his love.
Remarkable work
Artist Interview: Tom Wiggins
What is your work about?
Possible making statements to get someone’s attention, either for myself or for a given cause.
How did you get into this work?
I’m not sure, but I was probably trying to prov that I was hip by being a wise ass, nd suddenly finding self-satisfaction in someone else’s appreciation.
What are your favorite things about your work?
When someone else gets it.
How do you feel when your work is going well?
In those moments of unforced inspiration, when it just seems to flow, for just that little bit, being outside of myself.
What is your favorite tool and material? Why?
My favorite tool is one that is accessible. My guitar cannot be buried under the Christmas decorations in closet, and pencils and good paper have to be at hand. Because hose moments of unforced inspiration may be as big as elephants and as fragile as butterflies flitting about on a skeet shoot over a mine field.
Political satire makes for good material, or my own sexual hang-ups, hence the immediacy.
What patterns emerge in your work?
In reference to the previous answer, probably a lot of ideological fantasy.
What do you do differently from the way you were taught? Why?
I honestly don’t know, but if/when someone corrects me, or tells me I can’t do something, it seems I pretty much take it as a dare. I joined the Navy to try to learn some discipline, among other things, and some ties I think I did, but as I age, I believe I’m losing my edge, because I know I’m terrible at time management. So, maybe I end to throw out a few dares of my own from time-to-time, because as arrogantly bullheaded, as I know I must appear at times, I really do look forward to learning new things.
What does your work remind you of?
Wish fulfillment and the lack thereof.
How do you begin a piece, what is your process?
This goes back to my time management/discipline problem. If one of those elephantine butterflies makes it across the mine field, and the accessibility presents itself, I could be having a moment of near smug self-satisfaction, or, someone will commission me to do a piece. Wherein I will struggle, yet persevere and be disappointed with the product, while people tell me how good it is.
What would you like people to see or experience in your work?
My tortured soul is the bleeding jewel in my lemon thorn hat. If I could just get it to stop screaming long enough to compse a nice still life. If anything that I do is capable of giving someone pause for ten seconds, I’ve done my job.
Who are your favorite artists/influences? Who are your peers?
Salvador Dali, Robert Williams, R. Crumb, Titian, Vargas, Gilbert Shelton, Ruebens, Dave Mann, Ed Roth.
My peers? My lawnmower, my skilsaw, my hammer, my lawn sprinkler, I don’t get out much any more. Karen, if she’d have me.
What’s the worst experience you’ve ever had as an artist and how did you handle it?
The first time I sold a piece, and I had done it specifically to sell at a charity auction, maybe I ever did.
What’s the best experience?
It’s the twenty third of June, it’s about 9:30 in the Midwestern evening, the sun’s just set, and the full moon is rising fast. The warm, humid air is so heavy and sweet with new mown hay, lilacs, growing corn, and snowball bush, it makes you drunk to breath. Blasting down a freshly paved two lane blacktop, on a well-tuned bike at seventy miles an hour with someone you know, like, and trust behind you.
Or
It hasn’t happened yet.
What resources do you find help you most in your work?
Like most artists, I think, I’ve done my share, (probably more than) of reality twisting substances, be it drink, be it drug, be it romance. And every one of those moments sprouts a branch on the imagination tre, and if you can stay in touch with that membory, keep the daily distractions in perspective, and not be lonely when you’re alone
?
What advice/suggestions do you have for new and emerging artists?
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Don’t think too much.
Do you have an artist statement, website, promotional materials, etc?
As for a statement; no guts, no glory. I guess I am my promotional material and as yet, I have no website.
If any of these statements sound like something you’ve heard before, it’s entirely possible, I’ve been told I have good retention.
Possible making statements to get someone’s attention, either for myself or for a given cause.
How did you get into this work?
I’m not sure, but I was probably trying to prov that I was hip by being a wise ass, nd suddenly finding self-satisfaction in someone else’s appreciation.
What are your favorite things about your work?
When someone else gets it.
How do you feel when your work is going well?
In those moments of unforced inspiration, when it just seems to flow, for just that little bit, being outside of myself.
What is your favorite tool and material? Why?
My favorite tool is one that is accessible. My guitar cannot be buried under the Christmas decorations in closet, and pencils and good paper have to be at hand. Because hose moments of unforced inspiration may be as big as elephants and as fragile as butterflies flitting about on a skeet shoot over a mine field.
Political satire makes for good material, or my own sexual hang-ups, hence the immediacy.
What patterns emerge in your work?
In reference to the previous answer, probably a lot of ideological fantasy.
What do you do differently from the way you were taught? Why?
I honestly don’t know, but if/when someone corrects me, or tells me I can’t do something, it seems I pretty much take it as a dare. I joined the Navy to try to learn some discipline, among other things, and some ties I think I did, but as I age, I believe I’m losing my edge, because I know I’m terrible at time management. So, maybe I end to throw out a few dares of my own from time-to-time, because as arrogantly bullheaded, as I know I must appear at times, I really do look forward to learning new things.
What does your work remind you of?
Wish fulfillment and the lack thereof.
How do you begin a piece, what is your process?
This goes back to my time management/discipline problem. If one of those elephantine butterflies makes it across the mine field, and the accessibility presents itself, I could be having a moment of near smug self-satisfaction, or, someone will commission me to do a piece. Wherein I will struggle, yet persevere and be disappointed with the product, while people tell me how good it is.
What would you like people to see or experience in your work?
My tortured soul is the bleeding jewel in my lemon thorn hat. If I could just get it to stop screaming long enough to compse a nice still life. If anything that I do is capable of giving someone pause for ten seconds, I’ve done my job.
Who are your favorite artists/influences? Who are your peers?
Salvador Dali, Robert Williams, R. Crumb, Titian, Vargas, Gilbert Shelton, Ruebens, Dave Mann, Ed Roth.
My peers? My lawnmower, my skilsaw, my hammer, my lawn sprinkler, I don’t get out much any more. Karen, if she’d have me.
What’s the worst experience you’ve ever had as an artist and how did you handle it?
The first time I sold a piece, and I had done it specifically to sell at a charity auction, maybe I ever did.
What’s the best experience?
It’s the twenty third of June, it’s about 9:30 in the Midwestern evening, the sun’s just set, and the full moon is rising fast. The warm, humid air is so heavy and sweet with new mown hay, lilacs, growing corn, and snowball bush, it makes you drunk to breath. Blasting down a freshly paved two lane blacktop, on a well-tuned bike at seventy miles an hour with someone you know, like, and trust behind you.
Or
It hasn’t happened yet.
What resources do you find help you most in your work?
Like most artists, I think, I’ve done my share, (probably more than) of reality twisting substances, be it drink, be it drug, be it romance. And every one of those moments sprouts a branch on the imagination tre, and if you can stay in touch with that membory, keep the daily distractions in perspective, and not be lonely when you’re alone
?
What advice/suggestions do you have for new and emerging artists?
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Don’t think too much.
Do you have an artist statement, website, promotional materials, etc?
As for a statement; no guts, no glory. I guess I am my promotional material and as yet, I have no website.
If any of these statements sound like something you’ve heard before, it’s entirely possible, I’ve been told I have good retention.
Artist Interview: Tim Park
What is your work about?
I am first and foremost a visual storyteller, so most of my illustrative and commercial work is some form of visual storytelling, be it in film pre-development (concept art and character design), development (storyboard), book illustration, comics or animation.
My fine art has traditionally been about communication, specifically communicating aspects of an individual‘s or event’s personal significance…things that can’t be communicated with data. This stemmed from an early embrace of the idea that art is the medium by which our culture and personality is passed from person-to-person, and most importantly, from generation to generation. Art is the DNA of civilization’s soul. So I am of the school that concept, content, is paramount when defining art, and is what makes it worth doing.
Lately, though, my fine art has seemed more decorative as I have engaged in creating an ever more intricate series of labyrinths, though all are either intended as meditative devices or are meditative processes themselves in their creation, and most have an additional layer or two of meaning woven into them.
How did you get into this work?
My maternal grandfather was one of the principal artists at Ford Motors International. He was a part of all the ads and promotions and stockholder reports and created the company Christmas cards. He was also the portraitist who painted the Fold family, Carnegie, and all their ilk. I got to spend great deal of time (for a child) in his bullpen at Ford and in his studio at home. His son, my uncle, is also a painter, an amazing colorist. The rest of the family were musicians of varying degrees of ability.
My paternal grandfather was a hobbyist painter, but prolific, painting dozens of huge and intricate seascapes, country scenes, and tall sailing ships. These influenced me a lot. My father was also very good, but gave up art for an industrial career. He did later take up woodcarving and stained glass.
So, basically, I was surrounded by art and artists, encouraged by all to learn, brought to the Detroit Metropolitan Museum of Art often…Funny thing is, I kind of resented it back then and resisted a lot of what could have been a tremendously helpful free education.
What are the favorite things about your work?
Hm. I guess my favorite thing about my work is that it communicates something…it’s not enough for me to just express something, but I want the message to enter someone else.
How do you feel when work is going well?
Cheerful, but industrious when it is…and irritable as all get out when life gets in the way of a good run.
What is your favorite tool and material? Why?
Probably a draw between pencil and ink on paper. I love the immediacy of raw drawing, and pencil is best for that, the quick vital line. But ink gives much of that, with a more striking mark.
What patterns emerge in your work?
This is not a problem I have. I am unfocused in medium, message, and style. My work is all over the map.
What do you do differently from the way you were taught? Why?
I have had instructors and mentors who did hint at the things I do now, but my two biggest teachers were (in my opinion) too pre-occupied with the craft and not the meaning. My sculptor instructor had reasons for creating the shapes he made, but he would not explain them. He didn’t care what people got out of them, as long as they “liked” them. I don’t even think that mattered to him. My painting instructor thought the process was the art. To be fair, this was undergrad stuff and craft was what the kids needed. But I maintained contact with both of these men for years afterward. I think some of my concern with communicating content came from my frustration with these guys.
What does your work remind you of?
If any work begins to remind me of someone else’s, I move in another direction. Could by why I’ve never settled on a style.
How do you begin a piece, what is your process?
I usually begin by scrawling a germ of the idea on a receipt in my pocket or on my steering wheel as I’m driving, or even on my palm. Then I will revisit it a couple times in that sort of transitory moment. Eventually, one of those notes will make it into my idea file, which I review from time-to-time. A couple of those ideas will speak to me again, so I bring them out and post them in my studio. There it might get looked at several times a day, sometimes for weeks, before I’m moved to work on it. At that point, I begin prep work…graphing out precision work if need be, researching methods or source materials. Then I paint, and work on several projects at once.
What would you like people to see or experience in your work?
As most of my work is very message-oriented, that is exactly what I hope they walk away with.
Favorite artists/influences? Peers?
Diego Rivera’s murals were an early influence I didn’t even pickup until recently. Picasso’s work (not his person) has been a great influence. Guernica is perhaps my favorite piece of art. The great illustrator’s Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish.
More contemporary influences include Parron Stoney (who teaches in San Francisco, by the way) and Dave McKean.
I’m not too familiar with peer artists…It takes a while for me to associate names with work, especially when I barely have time to do my own work. Tom Killion is a printmaker working in community that I really admire, he’s inspiring me to get back into the field and do some landscape pieces.
Worst experience/how did you handle it?
Other than getting ripped off a couple times on the business end of things, I haven’t had a lot of disappointment art-wise.
Best experience?
A couple of years ago, I had a retrospective show at my alma mater with my family…My portraitist grandfather, his son, my uncle, and his son, myself and my brother all exhibited. It was a great experience, not only to be standing with my kin as a kind of art dynasty, but just to see my own work in that context.
What resources do you find help most in your work?
The Internet and the library. I do a lot of resource browsing, for ideas, inspiration. I’ll latch onto a hundreds ideas or new approaches or methods a day…I may only use one or two….but sifting through texts and images, magazines, newspapers, kid’s books, billboards, brick walls, hills, clouds, people…I know I’ll hit a launch pad somewhere, so I just kind of swim in it all whenever I can.
What advice/suggestions for new/emerging artists?
1. Draw. All the time. Are you a painter? Draw. Sculptor? Draw. Doodle. Let your mind wander and dribble out of your pencil. And as much time what you see. In class, draw your classmates. In line, draw the cashier, or the register, or your foot. I used to set a mirror at my feet and draw whatever I could see as I was falling asleep at night…sometimes just the sole of my feet, sometimes a self-portrait… On the subject…draw yourself. You won’t get on your own case if it’s not perfect, you’re always available, and you are most familiar with you own visage…If you get it wrong you’ll know what to work on. People will think you’re narcissistic, though.
2. Enjoy it. If it’s not fun, find something that is. Subject or media, find something that fires you up.
3. Go out on your own, but know the principles. Learn the rules, THEN break them.
ARTIST STATEMENT, WEBSITE, AND BLOG:
All at http://www.entertainingart.com
Actually, artist’s statement might be gone, but largely covered information in response #1.
E-mail: tim@entertainingart.com if any questions.
Thanks,
Tim Park
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